Lena Dunham and Andrew Rannells to Discuss New Book at BAM

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) will present two conversations this spring featuring leading voices in culture, literature, and technology. On April 14, Lena Dunham joins actor and author Andrew Rannells for an evening of candid storytelling celebrating Dunham's new book Famesick. Earlier in the season, on March 18, BAMtalks: Thinking Out Loud brings together MacArthur Fellows Annie Dorsen and Dr. Safiya Noble for a timely discussion on artificial intelligence, bias, and representation in the arts and society.

Lena Dunham in Conversation with Andrew Rannells

THE FAMESICK TOUR: An Evening of Stories and Togetherness

Tuesday, April 14 at 8pm
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Celebrating her first book in over a decade, Lena Dunham returns to the stage for a night of fearless storytelling and no holds barred conversation. A candid, funny, and bracingly honest reflection on illness, fame, sex, and everything in between, Famesick marks a bold return from the award-winning creator of Girls and Too Much. So pull on your pajamas and join us for a night that brings together all the best parts of a slumber party, just not the thing where you call your parents crying because you want to go home. We'll get nostalgic for the 2010s and frank about anxiety and ambition, and go deep about what it actually means to author your own story. We can't wait to see you there to celebrate Famesick. This is presented by BAM in association with Greenlight Bookstore.

Art, Tech, and Representation

BAMtalks: Thinking Out Loud
MacArthur Fellows Annie Dorsen and Dr. Safiya Noble in Conversation

Wednesday, March 18 at 7:30pm

BAM Fisher (Fishman Space)

321 Ashland Pl. Brooklyn, NY

MacArthur Fellows Annie Dorsen and Dr. Safiya Noble in conversation at BAM as part of BAMtalks: Thinking Out Loud. Dorsen, a theater director working at the intersection of algorithmic art and live performance, and Noble, the David O. Sears presidential endowed chair of social sciences and professor of gender studies, African American studies, and information studies at UCLA, critically examine mechanisms of representation across their home disciplines and the digital technologies they study.

Their conversation will explore how the training data and algorithmic architectures that artificial intelligence (AI) relies on can replicate and magnify racist, gender-based, and other biases as AI becomes increasingly integrated into daily life and the arts. The discussion will also examine how all regimes of representation encode values and are entangled with questions of power, authority, and legitimacy.